Shiner Holiday Cheer | Spoetzl Brewery / Shiner

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This was a nice surprise...much better than I expected. The beer is a light chestnut color with a white head and a fizzy carbonation. The aroma is a mix of fruit, malt, and wheat...with a little yeast scent underneath. The taste, though, is really nice...peaches, lots of peaches, with sweet malt and a little wheat twang. Crisp due to the effervescence, which is essential to keep it from being too sweet. Medium in body and very enjoyable. Nice!

Appearance – Pours a light brown/mahogany color with a two finger cream-red tinted head. The head has a decent level of retention, fading to give a light level of lacing.

Smell – The aroma is big of a sweet sugary smell of peach and apricot. It almost smells like a peach candy or a peach fruit roll-up. Mixed with the intense sweet and sugary fruit aroma is a little bit of spice as well.

Taste – The taste starts out of the sweet fruit that was detected in the nose. These flavors are mixed with a light wheat and roast flavor upfront. Some spice flavors soon come to the tongue with a sugary/candy flavor accompanies this to produce a spiced fruit candy flavor on the tongue. Toward the end the peach and apricot flavors surge in strength along with a slight increase in the spice and roast flavors to leave a sweet and spiced peach and apricot taste on the tongue.

Mouthfeel – The body of the beer is on the slightly creamier side with a carbonation level that is a little on the lower side. A little more carbonation may have been nice for the sweet flavors of the brew, but with that said, the creaminess was quite good for the spice, lighter roasted flavors, and the overall smoothness of the beer.

Overall – While a little too fruity and sweet for the style, it was actually a very tasty brew. Easy to drink and one to go to from time to time.

A: Pours mahogany color with a large beige head. Lots of sticky lace is left behind as the head recedes.
S: Definitely lots of peaches. Sweet malt with a light roasted character. Just a hint of some pecan/nutty aroma.
T: An interesting flavor of peaches, sweet roasted malt, and pecans. More pecans than were in the nose.
M/D: A medium body that is over carbonated for my tastes. Slick and oily. Smooth and easy to drink. Something that I could session.

This is different and unique. Something I would recommend. Definitely one of Spoetzl's better offerings.

Woa...a peach/pecan dunkelweizen...what will they think of next....spurred a purchase from me of a Shiner product which I usually stay away from (don't hate them but just so many better products out there to chose from).

A-Chestnut brown colored...minimal head..

S-Peaches...more like the peach syrup in a can of peaches...just a general malty aroma...

T-Pleasantly surprised....the peach flavor is evident and in front but refreshing and not sticky sweet...there is also a nutty malty dimension that to be honest I could not identify as pecan but definitely nutty maltiness....not a bad drinker at all..not getting much of any yeasty weizen notes...drinks more like a dark wheat ale perhaps..

M-Malty but not cloying like I feared....lighter bodied and a bit thin but not mich ultra thinnish or anything like that...just not a lot of heft to to it...was hoping for more of a medium body on this.

O-I'm kind of glad I bought this...something a little different and while not an all-time great it's interesting enough.

I picked up a bottle of Spoetzl Brewery's Shiner Holiday Cheer a couple weeks ago for $1.39 at The Lager Mill. I've been meaning to try this beer and since I missed out on it last year I thought I should give this years release a try, so lets see how it goes. No visible bottling date. Poured from a brown 12oz bottle into a imperial pint glass.

A- The label looks nice, it's got a nice retro Christmas look to it. It poured a fairly clear redish dark amber color that took on a ruby hue when held to the light with a finger and half of light tan head that died down to a thin ring that stayed till the end and left some spotty lacing behind. This was a nice looking beer and I liked the color of it.

S- The aroma starts off with a higher amount of sweetness followed by big fruity aroma with some cranberry and other fruity aroma coming through with peaches seeming to show up the most. Up next comes a nice creamy aroma that mixes with the fruity aspect to make for an aroma that reminds me of those fruit and cream candies. It kind of reminds me of Short's peaches and cream. The aroma is decent, but it isn't very beer like and I don't pick up any Dunkelweizen like aromas.

T- The taste seems to be fairly similar to the aroma and it starts off with a higher amount of medium sweetness followed by lots of peach flavors with some other fruity flavors in the background. Up next comes that same creamy aspect that I got in the aroma and it makes for that same cream and fruit candy like aspect. Up next comes some light malty and grainy flavors with a somewhat lighter amount of bitterness with a creamy and peach like aftertaste. The taste isn't bad, but just like the aroma it's not very Dunkelweizen.

M- Smooth. crisp, on the lighter side of being medium bodied with a slightly higher amount of medium carbonation. The mouthfeel was nice and it worked well with this beer.

Overall I thought this beer was just ok and I didn't think it was a good example of a Dunkelweizen since none of the aspects that I look for in the style came through, if they were there they were pretty much covered up by the creamy peach flavors and with how much the peach flavors stick out I think this would be better classified as a Fruit Beer. This beer didn't have the best drinkability, it was smooth and not filling, but the taste didn't do a good job at holding my attention and I think one is enough for me, I don't really have the urge to drink another one in a row. What I liked the most about this beer was the appearance and mouthfeel, I thought they were both nice and worked well with this beer. What I liked the least about this beer was the how dominating the creamy peach flavors were, they weren't bad, but I thought they were too overpowering. I wouldn't buy this beer again, I'm glad I tried it but I wouldn't seek it out and I don't think I would really recommend it unless you really like Peach flavored beers. All in all I was a little let down with this beer, Shiner is usually pretty solid, but this beer seemed a little too unbalanced and artificial for my taste. Better luck next time guys, this one could use a little bit of work.

A: Pours a dark chestnut color which is disappointingly devoid of haziness for the style. The head is a one finger off-white shade. It isn't particularly creamy, nor does it have great retention. It leaves behind a thin ring of lacing on the glass.

S: Peach notes are at the forefront. I'm having trouble picking up any nuanced malt qualities, though, and that's unfortunate. Maybe a touch of caramel and some wheat. At first, I thought I picked up a cheesy scent, but that's gone away almost entirely in the glass. The fruitiness IS pretty nice anyways.

T: Okay, I lied - the malt here is like a punch in the face. It hits the palate immediately with caramel-laden sweetness, clashing with the (nice) peach notes instead of coexisting peacefully. At least the peachy finish is pleasant - too bad I don't pick up much pecan flavor. There's too much in the way of clashing flavors for me to enjoy this.

M: Light, but too sweet on the palate to really inspire drinkability. Carbonation does its damnedest to help it go down, though.

O: It's a shame about its lack of balance, because I enjoy the fruity flavors of this. Wasn't a fan of this one, frankly. On the plus side, I can see this appealing to other drinkers.

As a dunkelweizen, I'm not too impressed. After letting the beer warm some out of the fridge, it poured with an average sized light tan head that soon subsided to a few small islands, a ring, and a little lace. Color is a nice, clear, red amber with a couple of bubble trails. Aroma is up front peaches with malt and yeast coming in way below. Flavors about the same as nose and with enough carbonic tang to save it. Body and carbonation are decent. Finish is like flavor with all components lasting to the very end of some good length. A peach beer.

A: This poured a clear dark copper with lots of fizzy light tan head.
S: It smelled like peaches and copper hops, with more peaches and a little nutty malt and bready yeast.
T: It tasted like peaches and copper hops, with some nutty malt and lager yeast. It had a mostly clean bittersweet aftertaste.
M: It was watery with moderate carbonation. Fairly light body.
D: This had an unusual scent and taste for a holiday beer, but it was clean and enjoyable. The peach character didn't mix with the copper taste too well, and the pecan wasn't very noticeable, but it was still easy to drink. Not a bad beer, but not great.